The present invention relates to the processing of plant materials, and in particular to a process for providing a reconstituted plant material such as a reconstituted tobacco material.
Cigarettes are popular smoking articles which have a substantially cylindrical rod shaped structure and include a charge of tobacco material surrounded by a wrapper, such as paper, thereby forming a so-called "tobacco rod." It has become desirable to manufacture a cigarette having a cylindrical filter aligned in an end-to-end relationship with the tobacco rod.
Typically, a filter includes cellulose acetate circumscribed by plug wrap, and is attached to the tobacco rod using a circumscribing tipping material. See, Baker, Prog. Ener. Combust. Sci., Vol. 7 pp. 135-153 (1981).
Typical cigarettes include blends of various tobaccos, such as the flue-cured, Burley, Maryland and Oriental tobaccos. Cigarette blends also can include certain amounts of processed and reconstituted tobacco materials. Reconstituted tobacco materials often are manufactured from tobacco stems, dust and scrap using papermaking processes. See, Tobacco Encyclopedia, edit. by Voges, pp. 389-390, TJI (1984); U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,421,126 to Gellatly, 4,962,774 to Thomasson et al., 4,987,906 to Young et al., 5,056,537 to Brown et al., 5,099,864 to Young et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,097 to Sohn et al. and 5,159,942 to Brinkley et al.; EPO patent application No. 535,834; and commonly assigned, copending U.S. Ser. Nos. 07/931,248 and 07/931,249 both filed Aug. 17, 1992.
When providing reconstituted tobacco materials, it is desirable to make efficient use of tobacco material (i.e., the stems, dust, scrap and other materials used to provide a commercially useable material). As such it is desirable to maximize the amount of tobacco material used and to avoid waste. It would be desirable to provide an efficient and effective process for utilizing a substantial portion of plant material during a process for providing a reconstituted plant material from such plant material. Moreover, it would be desirable to increase the amount of tobacco material used and to reduce the amount of waste plant material which must be disposed.